Special Guest Episode - Pi Hongyan

This episode of the podcast has another former world no. 2 as a guest! This time it's the wonderful Pi Hongyan from France.

Coming from China, Hongyan has a unique story to tell as she was given up on by the Chinese federation, so she left everything behind to pursue her badminton dreams in Europe. First in Denmark, then in France.

Hongyan talks openly about how she coped with the cultural differences in both lifestyle, but certainly also training styles - and getting to know just how to communicate with everyone as she only spoke Mandarin when she arrived in Europe.

We also talk about Hongyan's biggest achievements, how playing style might have been a factor in her being very succesful in European tournaments and the disappointment of losing 21-19 in the third game of the quarter final in the Beijing Olympics.

Finally we chat about Hongyan's future, the future of women's singles in France and of course her big involvement in the charity foundation Solibad!

I hope you'll enjoy the episode - and if you do, remember you can support the work I do by becoming a patron on patreon.com/vittinghus.